New national security law office will jeopardize Hong Kongers’ human rights: Hong Kong pro-democracy lawmaker
A new office set up to oversee the implementation of the new national security law in Hong Kong could be used by Beijing to enforce its jurisdiction in the semi-autonomous city, according to Hong Kong pro-democracy legislator James To.
The Democratic Party lawmaker expressed his concern to RTHK yesterday about the upcoming law, and said the new office would be able to intervene in any case it wanted, putting Hong Kongers’ human rights at risk.
According to details published by the Xinhua News Agency on Saturday, the new legislation would be empowered to override Hong Kong’s local laws in the event of conflicting provisions. This would mean that the new national security office could exercise its jurisdiction under “special circumstances” in a minimum of cases about endangering national security. To said this mechanism would allow the central government to classify whatever they see fit as “special circumstances”, so as to exercise jurisdiction in these cases.
He described a pro-Beijing figure’s claim that the new law would protect human rights in Hong Kong as “very deceiving”, adding that any crimes that took place in the city should be handled within the local system. The office should follow Hong Kong laws and not infringe upon other rights, according to state-run Xinhua.
He expressed concern that the new office would be tasked with making arrests in Hong Kong, and then directly sending the suspects to mainland China for trial after the legislation was passed.
“The new office is like a one-stop service. It can direct and supervise the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Government,” To said.
Anita Yip, the Hong Kong Bar Association’s vice-chairperson, also told RTHK that details of the law that gave the Chief Executive the power to appoint judges to national security cases was an example of government interference in the judiciary, and undermining Hong Kong’s judicial independence.
Tam Yiu-chung, one of Hong Kong’s delegates to the National People’s Congress, told RTHK yesterday that there was a need for the new office to handle cases involving national security as they could be very complicated in nature.
He said personnels of the new office would have to observe both national and Hong Kong laws and that Hong Kong law enforcement agencies would be responsible for making arrests in most cases.
Tam said there would be very few cases where suspects would be sent to the mainland for trial, and that this would only occur in cases involving foreign countries or if Hong Kong’s law and order had collapsed.
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